Maryland health exchange enrollment continues to tick up

The Maryland health exchange, where uninsured and underinsured can buy insurance, reported that 26,832 people have enrolled through the website for private coverage as of Jan. 25. That's up 1,655 from last week's report.

That brings the total to 164,452 people signed up for new health insurance in Maryland under the Affordable Care Act in Maryland. Open enrollment lasts until March 31.

Officials said more repairs have been made to the exchange website, which has experienced technical problems since its Oct. 1 launch.

Also this week, the General Assembly passed emergency legislation to allow those stuck in limbo on the exchange to enroll in a state high risk pool, retroactive to Jan. 1, until they can buy private insurance. The state already had negotiated an agreement with insurers to allow customers to pick plans and enroll retroactively directly with the insurers.

The Senate panel probing what went wrong with Maryland's bungled health exchange has decided to wait two weeks for another hearing while state lawyers plow through a mountain of records lawmakers want to review.

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